Stanford 's Rosco Allen (12) shoots between California 's David Kravish, left, and Robert Thurman (34) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Stanford, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press

Stanford 's Rosco Allen (12) shoots between California 's David...

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Stanford 's Josh Huestis, center, grabs a rebound next to California 's Tyrone Wallace, left, David Kravish, second from left, and Allen Crabbe during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Stanford, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Photo: Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press

Stanford 's Josh Huestis, center, grabs a rebound next to...

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California 's Allen Crabbe, left, is defended by Stanford 's John Gage (40) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Stanford, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Following one of its poorest showings of the year Saturday at Maples Pavilion, Cal basketball seems headed toward the worst season of coach Mike Montgomery's five years in Berkeley.

A 69-59 loss to Stanford revealed the Bears to be a team without the grit and gumption, and at times intelligence, necessary to take control of a game when it was there for the taking.

As a result, Cal slipped to 10-7 overall and 2-3 in the Pac-12 Conference, with not much hope on the horizon given its lack of depth because of injuries. In a 10-point loss, the Bears' reserves were outscored 26-3 by the Cardinal bench.

"I still think the group of people we had today were good enough to win this game if we did the things we were supposed to," Montgomery said.

By now Crabbe is used to teams loading up against him and forcing his teammates to take up the slack. When they don't, the result is usually a loss.

"It was just like every other team," said Crabbe, who finished with 14 points, well below his 20.1 Pac-12-leading average. "They try to find ways to get me frustrated. It's nothing new. They did a good job in the first half. It's like everywhere you go, there's another defender trying to help. I have to find ways to get my teammates involved."

The 6-foot-7 Brown deserved praise for his defensive work on Crabbe, if for no other reason than he's a player with three ACL surgeries in his past.

"I challenged Andy Brown to defend him," Stanford coach Johnny Dawkins said. "He took the challenge on, being a veteran, and he limited his touches."

Forward David Kravish compensated for Crabbe's lack of offensive output in the first half by hitting his first five shots for 12 points at the break. However, Kravish made just 1-of-7 the rest of the way to finish with 14. Point guard Justin Cobbs needed 15 shots - making four - to end up with 13 points.

"My feeling's always been if you really want to take a guy out of a game, you can," Montgomery said. "What has to happen is make them pay with other people. There are things you should be able to do. We just struggled with it."

Some of Cal's struggles were due to boneheaded plays. With the Bears trailing 54-47 with 6:04 to play, forward Richard Solomon foolishly fouled Dwight Powell beyond the three-point arc with the shot clock about to expire.

Powell calmly made all three chances to put the Cardinal up 57-47, a margin it was able to maintain the rest of the way.